Abstract

Purpose. This study describes the nonfatal injuries among adolescents in Palestine. Methods. The 2006 Palestinian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) is a cross-sectional survey. Students of grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 completed a modified version of the international HBSC questionnaire, resulting in 15,963 students (47.3% boys and 52.7% girls) included in this study (56.9% from the West Bank and 43.1% from Gaza). Results. Of the total 15,963 adolescents, 47.6% were injured, with boys (53.5%) being statistically higher than girls (42.1%) (). The prevalence of those injured more than once decreased by age and was also found significantly higher in boys than in girls (27.3% and 17.9%, resp.) (). Children living in low FAS families showed significantly lower ratios of injuries than those living in moderate and high FAS families (). Injuries while biking were significantly higher among boys (46.3%) than girls (41.7%) (), and injuries while walking/running were more prevalent among girls (32.5%) than boys (28.0%) (). Conclusion. Despite these considerably high rates, injury remains relatively underappreciated. Results of this study are useful to develop a national injury prevention program aimed at enhancing the safety of Palestinian adolescents.